Oradour-sur-Glane massacre

The Oradour-sur-Glane massacre occurred on 10 June 1942 when a company of Waffen-SS troops from the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich massacred 642 French civilians at the town of Oradour-sur-Glane before razing it. Adolf Diekmann's SS panzergrenadier battalion ordered all the people in the village to be ready to have their identity papers examined, as there were reports of French Resistance activity in the area. The women and children were locked in the church as the village was looted, while the men were led to six barns and sheds, where they were machine-gunned by the German troops. The Germans aimed for the men's legs, immobilizing them before burning the barns and sheds to the ground, burning the civilians alive. The SS then set fire to the church after it was locked, gunning down women and children as they tried to escape through the windows. The massacre was condemned by the German high command, as Diekmann had taken unilateral action; however, most of the participants (including Diekmann) were killed in action soon after the massacre, and the investigation was then suspended. After the war, President Charles de Gaulle allowed for the town to be rebuilt nearby, but he had the original ruins preserved as a memorial to those killed.